Libya rebels set up base in Palm City after hunt for Gaddafi

Maltese eyewitnesses told MaltaToday that on the evening of Sunday August 21, some 200 fully-armed rebel fighters shot their way through the gates of the Corinthia-owned luxury residential resort in Janzour, in search of the Gaddafis just one hour after the Bab Al-Aziziya compound had fallen.

Palm City now has been partly taken over by rebel forces, using its garages as a ammunitions depot.

A Maltese expat tweeted from Janzour that night that the rebels were convinced that the Gaddafis had evacuated Palm City as soon as they got wind of an imminent NATO bombing.

But while a spokesman for the Corinthia Group denied any suggestion that the Gaddafis had in fact sojourned in Palm City, eyewitness reports place Col. Gaddafi at the complex on July 30 – sixteen days before the fall of Tripoli.

The eyewitness tweeted as follows: “No one of the G family was there for three weeks, but the last one out was Hannibal, but they [rebels] thought they were there, doors smashed open…”

He added in another tweet: “the night the G’s left Palm was evacuated on a rumour of a direct attack. The attack never happened but they [Gaddafis] never returned.”

The Maltese expat said that “D gs were Seif, Hannibal and Saadi. One night G himself stayed there 100 Pc. They were ok with d Maltese.”

MaltaToday is reliably informed that the rebels focused their search on a villa at the far end of the huge residential complex, where luggage was found strewn all over the place, while food and drinks were also found left on tables.

The source also mentioned an unconfirmed report of an incident where a drunk Hannibal Gaddafi attacked his own bodyguard: “An incident known is Hannibal drink and kicking arse one of his bodyguards and throwing him into a pool without water breaking his leg from three parts.”

Other tweets from around the Janzour area reported a fierce gun battle between rebel forces and Gaddafi loyalists between Sunday 21 and Monday 22 August.

One of the tweeters sent out the registration plates of the Chevrolets in which Gaddafi loyalists fled Palm City, while another said that looting was taking place inside the complex during a gun battle with rebels.

But as the dust settled the rebel forces from the National Transitional Council, who entered the compound in search of the Gaddafis, took over the complex and turned it into their temporary military headquarters (see photos).

Eyewitnesses told MaltaToday that rebel fighters unloaded large boxes containing weapons and ammunition off Libyan army trucks into Palm City’s garages – anything from small handguns, to AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades have been stocked in the complex’s underlying garages.

The same eyewitness said rebel commanders inside Palm City had told him they are expected to vacate Palm City, because Benghazi leaders are to set up their interim government there.

MaltaToday is informed that negotiations were underway in Benghazi between Corinthia’s senior management and the NTC to have Palm City cleared of unauthorised personnel.